BAU: Meet Bixby
by MissdaVinci77
Summary: What happens when the BAU gets called out to a case in Bixby? And who is sacrificing humans to the darklings? My first fanfic, reviews would be awesome, good or bad. I own neither Criminal Minds nor The Midnighters.
1. Chapter 1

_Quantico_

Reid had never heard of Bixby, Oklahoma. That was saying something.

The team was to fly there this afternoon, after JJ briefed them on their newest unSub. The case sounded violent. The half-mutilated carcasses of seven middle-age men were found at the edge of the desert. Reid had assumed it was some sort of animal, but autopsy showed signs of foul play.

Reid was pondering over this when he realized Morgan was talking to him.

"-probably some freaky little town out in the middle of nowhere. You ever heard of it, kid?"

"Nope. But I did some research. Turns out the population is about 20,678 and about 85% of them are white. It's right around Tulsa, only 15 minutes away. It coordinates are---hey, where are you going?" questioned Reid. Morgan had proceeded to walk towards the conference room with an agitated look on his face.

"Let Google keep its job, Reid. I swear, you are a walking search engine."

"I'll take that as a compliment!" yelled Reid, as he followed the retreating back of Morgan into the conference room, where JJ, Hotch, Gideon, and Prentiss were already waiting.

"Local authorities of Bixby contacted us about a series of homicides around the desert," began JJ, showing Bixby on a map on the screen. "Seven men were found out there presumably attacked by a wild animal, but autopsy showed ligature marks on the wrists and ankles as well as blunt force trauma to the head. Tox screen showed chloroform in their systems used to subdue them. All the men were in their late twenties to early thirties, all in good shape-"

"Except for the fact they were half-decomposed by the time the cops found them," interrupted Prentiss. "Look at these pictures! If these isn't a hate crime, I don't know what is."

"The use of chloroform suggests that the unSub wouldn't be able to take him on if the men were aware he was there. He most likely snuck up behind them," stated Reid, his mind already forming a profile.

"Bixby authorities have asked us to come ASAP, so wheels up in 20. JJ will finish on the way there," said Hotch.

As Reid got his messenger bag ready, he couldn't help but wonder what would possess someone to ditch a body in the middle of an open desert that was visible for miles around. Either this SOB needed to ditch the body fast, was stupid, or he just didn't care who found it. He was confident.

Melissa was worried. Rex could tell. The seventh body was found and rumor had it that some FBI big shots were on their way to poke their noses into the Darklings business. Questions would be asked. Not the kind of attention Rex was aiming for.

"It could just be a rumor," Melissa mumbled through her headset. They were on their way to Bixby High, aka Hell on Earth.

" I don't know, Cowgirl. Did you see St. Claire running around in his car all night, patrolling the perimeter? He knows it's serious," said Rex, as he ran a hand through his untidy black hair.

Melissa sighed, pulling her legs up on the seat and wincing as they drove past a day-care center.

"Worst case scenario: The big shots come, investigate for a few days, can't figure it out, and leave. You think they'll suspect the truth?"

Rex sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"No, but we don't even know the truth. We don't know who brought those men out there in the first place. Some sort of ritual sacrifice, or something." They had pulled into the parking lot farthest from the entrance to the school. Melissa's hands shook once before she got control and pulled her face into an ever-present grimace.

"I need to figure it out before the feds do," mumbled Rex as he lightly grabbed Melissa's arm to guide her across the road.

" You will, Loverboy. You always do," smiled Melissa, taking Rex's hand through her thick gloves.

The two sighed yet again as they entered the stark white halls of Bixby High for the 169th day of the school year.


	2. Chapter 2

St. Claire was an annoying little man, Reid decided. He had serious control issues. St. Claire obviously did not believe in what Reid and his team did, and he didn't like the fact that Gideon was calling the shots.

"Okay, I want Prentiss and Reid to go out to the crime scene while Morgan and Hotch go to talk to the wife of the latest victim. JJ will cover the press, although it doesn't seem too bad yet, thankfully. I'll try to get things set up here," said Gideon at Bixby's (small) police station.

"We've already been out there and there's no evidence left," argued St. Claire. "And the wife was too distressed to come in for questioning so I doubt she'll talk to FBI agents."

"That might be true about the scene, but we aren't looking for that kind of evidence. We are looking at out surroundings to try get an idea on the personality of our unSub," explained Prentiss.

"And the wife might start talking when she realizes that your station placed this case as a priority and brought in extra help," said Morgan, still paging through the file.

"Suit yourself," said St. Claire, as a couple young officers rolled their eyes at each other.

It was going to be a long day

"_She totally stole my outfit, did you see---"_

"_She doesn't even know I exist, I'm just---"_

"_I have that huge math test tomorrow that I totally forgot about!"_

SHUT UP!

Melissa winced as she pushed the shallow and worthless thoughts from her mind, boosting the volume on her MP3. She crossed her arms tighter across her chest.

Rex looked up from his seat next to Melissa in the cafeteria, concerned. Melissa hated the cafeteria. It was the biggest gathering of the day unless there was a pep-rally.

"_Easy Cowgirl, only 10 minutes left_," thought Rex, sending this to Melissa.

Melissa only whimpered in response, not touching her food. She never ate lunch.

Dess was either oblivious or didn't care (probably the latter), for she did not even look up at Melissa. Jonathan and Jessica were oblivious to the world, lost in the young-love clouds they had been walking on since they got together. Rex was glad he and Melissa didn't act like that. For one, the constant touching would drive Melissa crazy. Not only was Melissa his girlfriend, but she was his best friend as well.

Suddenly, Melissa stood up a bit straighter and got a look that meant she was listening in on something relatively important.

"Cowgirl---?"

"Shh," whispered Melissa, holding up one covered finger hesitantly.

"_My father's good friends with Constable St. Claire and he heard that the FBI arrived about an hour ago. Can you believe that? Actual agents! And I heard one of them was quite hot---"_

Melissa stopped listening then, knowing that that was all she would be able to grab out of the head of Constanza Greyfoot. The girl was the definition of "idiot".

Melissa gently pulled her thumb out of her glove and rested it on Rex's hand. Her stomach automatically gave a huge lurch and her head felt like it was splitting open. As quickly as this started, it stopped. Rex managed to calm Melissa's mind down and extract the information she was trying to give to him. The whole exchange lasted less than a second.

However, this didn't go unnoticed by Dess. Her eyes widened in alarm as she realized what the two of them were doing. Her face turned into one of disgust, remembering the time when the bitch goddess had touched her once.

Rex was frustrated. He had hoped, prayed actually, that St. Claire wouldn't get the feds involved. The Darklings wouldn't be happy about this.

However, in the back of his mind, he thought about how great it would be for someone to realize just what was really going on here in Bixby. It was unrealistic, but still nice to think. Some of the pressure he had been facing might be released and someone could help them with these problems that high school students shouldn't be facing.

Melissa had turned her head and was staring at Rex with one eyebrow raised. Rex just shrugged. No words needed to be exchanged for them to understand what the other was thinking.

Melissa had to secretly agree with Rex though. She had seen Rex becoming more and more frazzled over the past few weeks. He was exhausted, overworked, and his mind was in turmoil. She should know. He had been sleeping over at her house recently. Rex had said that with all the Darkling action occurring recently, they should stick together. Melissa didn't mind. In fact, she slept better when he was around. Her parents were completely oblivious, of course, choosing to ignore their unnerving only child.

Just as Melissa was pulling her glove over her hand, feeling the comfort of the thick wool protecting herself against the painful touches of those around her, the bell rang, sending the midnighters off to sixth period.

It took only twenty minutes to reach the border into the desert. The ground was completely level with perfect visibility for miles. Anyone with decent eyesight could find a dead body out here.

Reid and Prentiss found the dump site easily enough. The dark red stain on the rough gravel gave it away.

"Footprints are practically nonexistent. All evidence probably blew away in the night," said Emily, pulling on her sunglasses because of the blinding sunlight.

"A body out here would be obvious though, so I don't think the unSub would particularly care if we found anything against him out here. He's incredibly confident. He had to know this body would be found in a matter of hours," explained Reid.

"You're right. It's a public place. He wanted them to be found. But why the desert? Is there some significance?"

"Did you see that pit we drove by on our way here? Kids probably have parties out here on the weekends. Maybe it was the unSub's way of expressing his distaste for them being out here. I mean, he has a body, might as well make a point."

"Well, if he was looking for attention, he certainly got it," said Prentiss, kneeling down beside the blood stain.

After Reid and Prentiss were done examining the scene, they headed over to see the most recent body. Reid took one look at it and realized just how hard it must have been to identify him. Both his hands were missing, excluding the possibility of fingerprints, and the majority of his face was gone. _They must have used dental records,_ he thought.

"What weapon could have done something like this?" asked Prentiss, her face a shade whiter than it had been before they entered the room.

"You're sure no animal was involved?" questioned Reid to the doctor.

"No saliva or hairs were found anywhere on the body. I do not know of any animal that could have possible done this." The doctor was beginning to look queasy as well. Reid took this as a sign to leave.

"Thank you for your time," said Reid as he and Prentiss hurried out of the room.

"The unSub really seemed to hate these men. However, none of them seemed to be connected in any way, showing that the selection was at random," Reid said to Prentiss as they walked to the car.

"They might have reminded him of someone he once knew, like a father or uncle or friend. They probably have a history of violence, possible abuse or gruesome death of a loved one," said Prentiss.

"We should see what Morgan and Hotch got from the wife. Maybe their abduction places are similar," said Reid, as Prentiss started the car and left to body of the seventh, and hopefully last, victim behind them.

"All I got from the wife was that her husband went missing on his way home from work. He mentioned something about stopping for gas and she never heard from him after," sighed Morgan, plopping down into a chair tiredly. "Is it just me, or do we have nothing?"

"We know he's cocky and strong enough to subdue seven healthy fully-grown men. He probably suffered from trauma in his past. Based on victimology, I'd say he is a male in his late twenties to early thirties, just like his victims. Maybe they remind him of himself," said Gideon to his team. "It's not much, but a start."

"This town is remarkably small. If we give out the preliminary profile to St. Claire and his team, they will probably be able to find someone that might fit this description," said JJ.

"Yeah, but where do we go after that?" asked Morgan.

"I think we should talk to the local high school kids," said Reid, giving his input.

He was acknowledged with a set of odd looks.

"Why would we do that?" questioned JJ.

"When Prentiss and I drove out to the crime scene we came across a pit that looked like it was used to host parties. Three out of the seven victims were killed during the weekend. Maybe someone saw something without realizing it was important," explained Reid. It was most likely a long shot, but they needed to do something.

"Reid's right. All of us will head over to the high school tomorrow, but I will contact the principal today. JJ, call Garcia and tell her to run a scan of all the crimes that have occurred in Bixby, Oklahoma in the past three months. The unSub might have started out small before escalating to murder," said Gideon.

_Fantastic, _thought Reid. High school did not exactly resurface too many ideal memories. He wondered if the students had changed much since his high school generation.


	3. Chapter 3

English class, something Melissa never paid much attention to. Instead, she diverted her attention to the BAU team unloading themselves from the two large black SUV's they just drove up in.

Their leader, presumably, was a slightly older man, with a serious, yet kind face. The second-in command, however, looked as if he had never smiled a day in his life. Melissa hoped that when they came to talk to her, she didn't end up with him. She didn't respond well to people like that. Actually, she didn't respond well to people at all.

A petite blonde young woman slipped out of the back seat and immediately went to talk to the group of angry parents and photographers forming outside the school. Like she would be able to hold them back. The blonde reminded Melissa of Constanza and her band of shallow wanna-bees.

Another woman exited the driver's side of the second car. She was the complete opposite of the blonde. She had dark smooth hair and walked in a way that radiated self-confidence, something Melissa never managed to do. She recognized the man who exited the shotgun side as the man Constanza was talking about. He was handsome, but definitely not Melissa's type. He looked like he had never read a book before in his life.

Finally, another man hopped out of the backseat. He reminded Melissa of a sweater-clad string bean. His hair was messy and he looked at the building as if it was sent from Hell. According to the midnighters, it was.

Melissa motioned at Rex to get his attention while the teacher was babbling on with his back to the class.

Rex eyed the BAU team warily and mouthed to Melissa, _Can you hear anything?_

Melissa closed her eyes and tried to hear, but she kept getting the depressingly disgusting thoughts from her classmates. She sighed, frustrated, and shook her head quickly.

_Don't worry about it, you'll get them later, _said Rex. He knew how annoyed Melissa got when she couldn't hear something.

Melissa just grimaced and turned up the volume on the MP3 she was concealing, sinking farther into her chair.

Spencer eyed the building and he couldn't help but realize how similar his high school was to this one. The brick buildings, stark white halls, and horrifyingly similar football fields: it was all there. The only difference was the odd thirteen pointed star he saw hanging above the entrance.

Reid had noticed these on the hospital and police station walls as well. In fact, he saw them on every single building he drove by. It must be some old tradition, if an odd one.

The team walked into the building and stopped right outside the cafeteria. The principal had already given them a list of the "populars" and the "trouble-makers." It was a start. The team knew that none of the kids would rat out who went to the parties: there would be booze and a number of other illegal things.

Hotch looked into the cafeteria window. "We have to make sure the kids know we aren't trying to rat them out for the party. Make them feel important, that their information is vital to the case, which it probably is, since we have practically nothing."

"We should just send Reid in, he's practically one of them," teased Morgan. "Of course, he should only talk to the socially retarded ones. He'll fit in best there." Morgan laughed as Reid's ears and neck turned red.

"Morgan!" muttered Reid. He hated it when Morgan did this.

"Enough you two, we don't have time. We'll start interviewing them now," said Hotch, handing each of them a file.

"Play nice," said Emily, as she entered the cafeteria to find Tiffany something-or-other.

Reid looked down at his file. Desdemona. Peculiar name, especially for someone so young.

Dess observed the skinny man before her. She liked him. He reminded her of herself; smart, young, and a bit of a loner.

The man was reading her file, or more accurately, skimming it quickly.

"Wow, AP Trig. Are you a sophomore?" asked the man, a light twinkling in his eye.

"Yup. I'm a math dork," stated Dess simply.

The man laughed quietly. "That's okay, so was I. I was actually a bit of an overall dork," he laughed. "I'm Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, by the way. You must be Desdemona."

"Dess is fine," said Dess, cringing at the use of her full name.

"Okay, Dess. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about that pit out by the desert."

Dess's eyebrows went up slightly. She was not expecting that. "O-o-okay."

"Have you ever been to any of those parties before? We don't care about what goes on there, we just wanted to know if you have seen anything suspicious happening out there at night."

"Um, I haven't been to one since Freshman year, they get kind of bizarre, so I don't think I'm the best one to be asking," said Dess. "What exactly would I be looking for?"

"Anyone who would seem out of place. An adult among a group of partying teenagers or anyone acting suspiciously," said Reid, looking intensely at Dess through the strands of messy hair that had fallen into his eyes.

Dess thought for a minute, trying to remember if she saw anything in the Blue Time. "I'm sorry but I can't remember anything."

Spencer smiled. "That's okay, but if you do, give us a call," he said, as he handed Dess a card with his number on it.

"Okay, will do," said Dess, popping up. She was late for Trig and she should probably tell Rex and the Bitch Goddess what was being asked.

She was about to leave when Spencer stopped her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Um, sure," she said, confused.

"What is that thirteen pointed star hanging everywhere?"

Dess smiled. "The mystery and secrets of Bixby." She left, leaving an increasingly more confused Reid behind her.

Melissa waited outside the room for one of Constanza's minions to come out. She was next. Whoopee.

She had the dark-haired woman. Her name was Emily Prentiss.

"Hi, I'm Agent Emily Prentiss. You're Melissa, right?" said Emily. She was way to peppy for the end of the day.

The agent held out her hand for the mindcaster to shake.

Melissa nodded and ignored the hand, crossing her arms tighter across her chest.

This Emily Prentiss left a funny taste in her mouth, so she didn't trust her. Yet.

If Agent Prentiss was bothered by Melissa's rudeness, she didn't show it. Instead, she sat down and motioned for Melissa to do the same.

"This will only take a little bit. We just want to know if you have been to any of the parties out in the desert recently," said Prentiss in a casual manner.

Dess had warned Melissa of this, so Melissa just raised one eyebrow and shook her head.

"We don't care what you all do out there. We just want to know if you have seen anything odd happening out there. Any people who seem out of place or that shouldn't be there?"

_Well, _thought Melissa, _the last time I was out in the desert I was fighting off an army load of darklings. Does that count as odd? _But she didn't say that, instead just opened her mouth and said, "I've never been to one before. Not my kind of place."

She heard Prentiss's thoughts.

_Of course she hasn't. Doubt she even leaves her home unless it's dark out. She looks horrible…_

Melissa frowned at this. She didn't look that bad, did she? Sure, a little thin, but she couldn't eat during the day. And duh, she was pale, since sunlight hurt her eyes. The only reason she wore black was to force people away from her so no one would bother them. It wasn't like she was a vampire…

Prentiss kept thinking about some profile of the guy she was looking for. Melissa knew someone had to be helping the darklings, so she and Rex would have to keep their eyes open tonight for someone that fit the description.

"Is that it?" asked Melissa, eager to get away from the agent's pitying stare.

"Um, yes that should be it---wait!" said Prentiss, just before Melissa exited the room. Prentiss laid a hand on Melissa's arm and Melissa quickly pulled away forcefully. Although no skin was touched, the contact made her skin crawl.

This time Prentiss did look taken aback.

"Um, sorry. I just wanted to tell you that—I think it would be a good idea for all of you to stay away from the desert until we find who we are looking for. You know, just in case," said Prentiss, eyeing Melissa up and down like she had four heads.

Melissa hated it when people studied her. She took her defensive position again, arms crossed in front of her tightly and murmured, " Yea, whatever," before snaking out of the room to go find Rex.

Emily couldn't help but pity the girl. She was obviously a bit of a loner, her only good friend seeming to be the tall boy Morgan had interviewed before. She looked almost anorexic and as if she was in pain all the time.

She was definitely an oddity.

"Prentiss!" called Morgan, coming over to Emily.

"What's up?"

"Garcia's on the line. Says she got some stuff that could be our guy. We might have a profile."


	4. Chapter 4

"I would like you all to get on your knees and grovel before my voice now, thank you!" chimed Garcia.

"What do you have, Penelope?" said a strained Hotch. They needed something, anything…

"Well, aren't we serious? Okay, down to business. So I looked into past crimes happening in the area. I mean, the place is teeny-tiny. I've never seen a smaller city! Turns out the crime rate is pretty low. Recently, and when I say recently I mean in the past two months, there have been reports of illegal poaching, including large animals like uber-huge cats and those kinds of meanies."

"That is most likely our guy," murmured Prentiss.

"Yeah probably. The guy's name was Richard Carter and he got off with a large fine and warning. He's 27, big white guy, history of poaching, obviously, petty theft, grand auto theft, and assault. When he was four, his mom died in a car accident along with his two brothers. Lived with his father, who also had a record of poaching. Like father like son, eh?"

"Looks like we have a suspect," said Hotch, turning to Jason. "You want to talk to him? We have no probably means of arrest, but maybe you could get something from him."

"Sure. Morgan and Emily, you can come with me on this one," said Jason, motioning to his team members.

"What should I do?" asked Reid, looking at his boss.

"Find out what these people are hiding. Someone saw something, and no one is talking. Start with those reclusive kids; they are probably the eyes and ears of this town and St. Claire doesn't seem too fond of them, so they are our first stop."

Great, so now Reid really was stuck with the weirdos.

…

"I really don't know what you want us to tell you," said Rex, annoyingly calm in Melissa's opinion. She wanted to punch the little punk in front of her, but once again, Rex was the voice of reason. It was enough to drive anyone insane.

"Listen, I know what it's like to be in your position," said Reid a little awkwardly. "I didn't really get along with the kids in my high school either. However, that also gave me an advantage that they didn't have. I knew what happened in school with everyone, I knew what was going around in town—"

"That's sweet and all, but what if we _don't _know anything. You're just wasting your time with us," said Dess, crossing her legs and arms.

"We're just making sure. We obviously know you had nothing to do with this, but you definitely know who did, even if you don't know it yourself," said Reid looking at each teen individually. "The man is someone in this town, and you probably know everyone here, right?"

Rex and Melissa looked at each other for a moment, eyebrows raised. Then Rex answered, "Pretty much, yeah."

Reid sighed. "This is not something we usually do, but this isn't a usual case. There is something going on that no one is telling us so…"

Melissa swallowed hard. They would never figure it out, but the last this she wanted was people poking their noses into their business, just in case.

"St. Claire doesn't even know everybody, so we are going to ask for your help."

Melissa shared a surprised expression with Dess and Rex. This wasn't something she was expecting.

"We'll go over the profile with you and our relative suspects, and if you could help us, that would be—really fantastic actually, since we have practically nothing."

Silence, before Dess exclaimed, "Hell, yeah!"

Reid looked taken aback.

"So, we actually get to help you catch this dude?" she said, eyes bright. This would be fun. Looking at midnight through the eyes of daylighters…

"Um, if you could we'd really appreciate it."

"Absolutely, right guys?" said Dess, just realizing she wasn't the only one there.

Rex nodded while Melissa stayed impassive. This wasn't a good idea. She could tell Rex was pissed.

After the doc let them leave for a bit, Melissa turned on Dess, furious.

"What was that teeny brain of yours thinking?" she cried out in a silent whisper. "We are going to _help _the daylighters get involved in midnight?"

"What! It solves both our problems. They'll find their bad dude, and we'll keep the Darklings from getting stronger. Everybody wins!" said Dess, argumentative.

"But what if science can't explain it? What if they realize something- odd- was involved? This isn't a case, Desdemona. They could figure us out," said Melissa, seething.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure they're expecting the truth right now. The whole sci-fy thing going on, for sure. Geez, Melissa, things like this don't happen in their world. Relax for five seconds of your pathetic life. They'll find something to fit with their scientific description of how those men died," glared Dess, seething at the use of her name.

"Melissa," chimed in Rex, placing a hand on her shoulder before she roughly shoved it off. "As much as I agree, we shouldn't have become a part of this voluntarily, Dess is right in the fact that they won't figure us out. No one can."

Melissa just sighed, grumbled and stalked off, followed shortly after by Rex and Dess.

Little did they know that Spencer was just around the corner and heard their exchange.

…

Melissa was ignoring Rex. She was pissed. He knew she hated it when he sided with Dess on things like this.

"Come on, Cowgirl. I did say you had a valid point, and you do," said Rex, smiling at his Cowgirl, silently laughing at her pouting. She was cute when she did that… They were at Rex's house in his room, where they went every day after school.

"Shut up," she mumbled incoherently, trying in vain to not smile just a little at his thought.

He just smirked and came up behind her to wrap his arms around her too thin waist. Still smiling, he dragged his lips down the side of her jaw, feeling her relax at his touch.

"I-um, just think that—stop! You know I can't think when you do that," grumbled Melissa, swatting his head away.

"So don't think," he whispered, trying to go back before Melissa cut him off.

"No, give me one second. I just don't want anyone to find out. Imagine the damage that could do," she finished, and Rex realized just how tense she was about this whole thing.

"Melissa, trust me. They won't." Rex seemed thoughtful for a second. "Although, wouldn't it be nice to have someone else know. Someone that wouldn't judge us."

"Yes, it would be fantastic. But they would judge, how couldn't they. We're freaks-" Melissa was cut off by Rex pressing his lips to hers roughly. She remained frozen before kissing him back. When he pulled away, they were both breathing heavily.

"You are not, under any circumstances, a freak, okay?" said Rex, resting his forehead on hers. She just nodded calmly, before resting her head on his chest. Finally she spoke up again; "You are right, though. It would be nice for someone to understand."

Rex just smiled softly before kissing the top of her head. It would be nice…..


End file.
